Isolate the cause from the symptom
For each part: symptom, the order to check, and what to do. Steps needing no tools and easily reversed come first — work down the list.
CPU
- Fans spin but no display
- Shuts down or reboots under load
- Runs hot, hits 90°C quickly
Memory
- Will not boot
- Random blue screens
- Speed or capacity not as expected
Graphics Card
- No display output
- Screen goes black in games, then recovers
- Lower frame rates than expected
- Visual artifacts on screen
SSD
- M.2 SSD not detected
- Writes slow down partway through large transfers
- Drive disappears or the system freezes
Hard Drive
- Clicking or grinding noise
- Not detected in BIOS
- SMART warning appeared
Power Supply
- Nothing happens when you press the power button
- Sudden shutdown under heavy load
- High-pitched whine (coil whine)
Find by symptom
If you do not know which part is at fault, start from the closest phrasing.
| Symptom | If you searched | Part |
|---|---|---|
| Fans spin but no display | pc turns on but no display / fans spin no display / cpu led stays on / q-led cpu red | CPU |
| Shuts down or reboots under load | pc shuts down under load / random reboot gaming / cpu throttling shutdown / pl1 pl2 | CPU |
| Runs hot, hits 90°C quickly | cpu running hot / cpu 90c / thermal throttling / thermal paste application | CPU |
| Will not boot | dram led on / memory slots a2 b2 / which ram slots / clear cmos | Memory |
| Random blue screens | random bsod / memtest86 / memory errors / xmp unstable | Memory |
| Speed or capacity not as expected | ram not at rated speed / enable xmp / enable expo / ram capacity wrong | Memory |
| No display output | gpu no display / hdmi no signal / plugged into motherboard | Graphics Card |
| Screen goes black in games, then recovers | screen goes black in game / display driver stopped responding / gpu crash gaming | Graphics Card |
| Lower frame rates than expected | low fps / gpu utilisation low / cpu bottleneck / pcie x4 limited | Graphics Card |
| Visual artifacts on screen | gpu artifacts / screen glitches / vram failure / dying gpu signs | Graphics Card |
| M.2 SSD not detected | m.2 not detected / nvme not showing bios / m.2 sata shared / initialise disk | SSD |
| Writes slow down partway through large transfers | ssd write speed drops / slc cache exhausted / dram-less ssd / ssd thermal throttle | SSD |
| Drive disappears or the system freezes | ssd disappears / ssd freezes system / check smart / ssd firmware update | SSD |
| Clicking or grinding noise | hdd clicking noise / hard drive clicking / data recovery clicking | Hard Drive |
| Not detected in BIOS | hdd not detected bios / sata not detected / drive not spinning | Hard Drive |
| SMART warning appeared | smart warning / reallocated sectors / pending sectors / drive health caution | Hard Drive |
| Nothing happens when you press the power button | pc will not power on / power button no response / jump power switch pins / test psu | Power Supply |
| Sudden shutdown under heavy load | psu shutdown under load / gpu daisy chain cable / atx 3.0 spikes | Power Supply |
| High-pitched whine (coil whine) | coil whine / psu buzzing / burning smell pc | Power Supply |